Creating/structuring a leg day

[danielandthelion]

(F) I love training but I am not a natural rocket scientist with legs. I need help structuring a quad/calves day, and maybe tweaking my glute/hamstring day (at the end of post). My goal is to build strong muscle to ultimately lift heavier, and have a nice build. I favor certain exercises like deadlifts, Bulgarian SS, sled pulls, hip thrust, and accessory exercises like hamstring curls, back extensions, calf raises, box jumps, jogging, sprinting. They are just what I’m used to and most comfortable with but I can change. My glutes/hamstrings day consists of (hypertrophy) deadlifts, hip thrusts, hamstring curls, BSS, back extension— I don’t know what the norms are with sharing in fitness but if you have G/H & Q/C workouts, I’d love to study yours, too!

 

[tarper]

@danielandthelion i got you buddy. Look at lower back fatigue happening with deadlifts, hip thrusts, and back extension. That is a lot of axial loading in one session. Instead i would split it up into a glute/quad focused day and a glute/hamstring focused day. Also don’t forget your adductors.

adductor
Hipthrust
Leg Press
Bulgarian SS
and whatever other movements you want to make this a quad/glute focused day

Hamstring Curl
RDLs
Glute Kickback
maybe some stepups or sled pulls here

add calves at the beginning of both workouts.

Start off with 2 sets of everything and you should only have one goal: Get Strong ASF. Add weight/reps every time you go in. I’m assuming you’re a female, so you should try searching up extreme_woman on ig she’s an olympia competitor and see how strong she is on hip thrusts and see how big her glutes are.

 

[danielandthelion]

@tarper So I learned what you meant by too much lower back fatigue today... lol. Tried a warm up with back extensions and it was f**** up SHIT. Also, I like what you made and I will try it, but how can I incorporate conventional deadlifts? Those are my primary obsession and I want to become stronger with those. I’ve also never done a glute kickback, but we have those machines. what could I replace that with if it’s uncomfortable?

 

[tarper]

@danielandthelion put those on a pull day. People say to put deads on leg day but it doesn’t make much sense as deads won’t be the major contributing factor to growing you lower body. It will definitely cause disruption in the lower body do you want a rest day between them. But bc you like them ( i like them too) put them on a pull day.

This is a simple split i can give you:
Push, lower, rest, pull, rest, lower, rest.

Push: Lateral raise, Flat Press, High Incline(shoulder) press, tricep ext

Lower A: Adductor, Hip Thrust, Leg Press, Bulgarian SS

Pull: Deads, Lat Pulldown, Upper Back Row, Bicep Curl

Lower B: Hamstring Curl, Back Ext/RDL, Glute Kickback, Leg Ext

You can do a glute kickback on a cable stack. Put your foot on a handle or ankle cuff.

Search up LiftRunBang and DanielleWebsterFit on ig. They have great demonstrations.

 

[smm]

@danielandthelion I’d recommend going to /r/fitness and reading the sidebar wiki, including the program picker. All the info you need is there.

 

[blueskye30]

@danielandthelion I say you are already on the right track and need less help than you think. Pick two exercises that stimulate a muscle group and plan 3-5 sets dependent on how much volume you are running. Just do what you like or what feels good for you, lots of people enjoy different exercise variations or feel that some exercises stimulate muscles better than others due to body structure.

For me, Quads I'll do Hack Squat and Leg extensions. Occasionally I'll throw in a barball back squat, but I'll injured myself a few times doing those and feel hack squats are a safer variation for me.

Calfs I'll do a straight leg calf extension, using the leg press machine. Get a nice full ROM on the stretch. And a seated calf raise.

Do what you like, and what works for you. Adjust volume to your preferred amount.

I also like to split Glutes into pull day, just due to volume. So my PPL split is - Chest, tricep, shoulder - Bicep, back, glute - calf, quad, ham

 

[doks]

@danielandthelion I wouldn’t overthink it. Pick your favorite exercises per muscle and focus on progressive overload.